


War on Christmas

by CeruleanNightHawk



Category: AFTER LIFE 소원을 담는 만화경 | AFTER LIFE: The Sacred Kaleidoscope (Visual Novel)
Genre: Christmas Eve, Fluff, Gen, Just the reapers being good beans (for the most part lol), Light Angst, Mischief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28297692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeruleanNightHawk/pseuds/CeruleanNightHawk
Summary: The holiday spirit moves Quincy to do things that are so not in line with the holiday spirit.Also, the age-old question: what the hell is Mori plotting... and why is he getting Youssef involved??
Kudos: 5





	War on Christmas

“Christmas?? Hah! What business would I have celebrating a thing like that?”

Quincy, arms akimbo, stood as straight as his spine would allow him. Overpowering Youssef in stature was a lost cause, but he’d be damned if he didn’t try. “Have you already forgotten who you’re talking to, human?”

“It seems that I have, hehe.”

“Don’t you dare laugh. If you really thought that the King of the Underworld would bow to the Celestial World for even a day… blegh!”

“That’s not all that Christmas is about, Quincy.” Youssef gently blew on his cup of tea, still too hot to sip. “Well, at least it doesn’t have to be.”

The young demon started pacing. “Huh. So Christmas can be about whatever I want it to be about? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Not… quite, but—”

“Then I’m dedicating it to destroying the angels. That’ll teach you all who to kneel before. Puhahahaha!!”

“Quincy, where are you—!!”

The door slammed so hard that Youssef jumped and nearly dropped his cup. “Oh, dear…”

A moment later, Verine’s head poked out from behind one of the bedroom doors. The dark circles under his half-open eyes were as deep as ever. “Is he gone?” he croaked.

“Quincy? Yes…”

“Good. He was being way too loud. I’m going back to bed.”

Though he knew that the younger man would hate it, Youssef couldn’t help but worry about Verine sometimes. It was already past ten in the morning, after all. How much longer was he going to—?

“Good morning, Mr. Youssef.” Mori had this way of just… _materializing_ in rooms. “You look awfully lost in thought today.”

Youssef returned the man’s soft smile as best he could. He’d seen enough faces like this in his past life as a lawyer to know that there was always something off about it. “It seems the department is in trouble today. Please don’t let Quincy out of your sight for too long today.”

“Understood. Hehe…”

“...You’re lingering in front of me, Mori. What is it?”

He raised his eyebrows, but his eyes remained shut. “Oh, nothing. I just needed to ask a favor of you.”

“Oh?”

“Consider it your repayment to me for covering those cleaning shifts last month.”

“Hm… alright, then. Tell me what it is you need.”

*

That afternoon, when Quincy went on a not-so-leisurely stroll through the garden, he got hit from behind by a handful of small, fast-moving objects. The demon turned around and found four rubber balls rolling on the ground.

“Hey! Who dares assault me!? Show yourself!!”

“It is I, The Great Demon Slayer! Kyahahahang!”

Kati peered out from behind a large bush, holding a toy gun and sporting a toothy smirk. Quincy lunged at him, but the younger boy was too quick — he darted away, leaving Quincy to fall face-first into the bush. The first thing he saw upon righting himself was Kati sticking his tongue out at him from a few feet away.

“Damn, you’re so annoying,” Quincy huffed. “Can’t you bother the people that you’re _supposed_ to be bothering?”

Kati stared at him quizzically for a moment, and then it clicked. “Oh, you mean big bro Noah?”

“Sure. Where is he? Go mess with him.”

“I can’t. He’s on a mission today, and big bro Cyrille’s being mean and hiding from me, and big bro Sian’s being mean and hiding from me, too.” Kati picked up the pieces of ammunition that he had just fired at Quincy. “So I’m playing with everyone else who comes through the garden today! You should be happy that Kati picked you!”

“Well I’m not. I’m out of here.”

With a smirk of his own, Quincy turned on his heel and waltzed away.

*

Ell was so absorbed in the book he was reading that he didn’t even notice Ghilley enter the Morning Team dorm. With silent footsteps, he crept up behind the angel and poked both of his shoulders at once. He was very pleased with the sharp, startled cry that escaped his teammate.

“Mr. Ghilley!? Where did you come from??”

“That’s a secret. Fufufu…”

“Hah… I’m glad that it was just you.”

As if on cue, their respective roommates came out of their rooms. Jamie was holding his singing bowl, and Licht was in a bathrobe, holding a towel over his wet hair.

“Gee, ‘s everything alright out here?”

“My darling Ghilley, you’ve returned!” Licht conveniently forgot his current state of dress (or maybe he didn’t) and ran over to give the man a hug. Ell and Jamie looked on as Ghilley chuckled in response, though the smile on his face was far from mischievous for this brief moment.

“Yes, I have.” Once Licht let him go, Ghilley pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. “I come with a message for our Class Leader.”

“For me?” Ell took the note from Ghilley and opened it up. The slightly messy writing read simply:

_Meet me outside, before it’s too late >:) _

“W-wh-what??” Ell sneezed hard enough that he lost his balance and fell off his chair. He then quickly pushed himself off the floor and dashed out of the room. “Someone’s in trouble! This is bad!!”

It was quiet in the dorm for a moment. Jamie picked up the note that Ell had dropped and read it for himself. The two older men peered over his shoulders, too.

“Huh.” Jamie put his singing bowl down on the nearest table. “Well that can’t be good, now can it?”

*

“I said put me the _fuck down!_ What is wrong with you!?”

“Puhahaha! Careful what you wish for, whelp!”

Ell followed the shouts to the back of the dormitory building, where Quincy was holding Sian’s tied up body over the edge of the roof. The angel froze at the sight and screamed.

“Quincy!? It was you?”

“Jeez, who’d you think it was?” Quincy nudged Sian’s head, and he turned it downward. “Look who it is! Our fearless Class Leader has come to save you~”

“Yeah, I see him,” Sian hissed through gritted teeth.

The demon thrusted his arms further in front of him, completely suspending Sian in the air. “Alright, angel, come and get him!”

_“Yooo!!”_

“And you better not bore me with any weak moves, or I’ll drop him for sure.”

“Ell, don’t just stand there, do something!”

The boy looked like he was on the brink of tears, which really wasn’t helping Sian’s psyche. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Sian,” he cried, “but I can’t fly up and get you down!”

“Great. Perfect.”

Ell threw up his arms and spread them wide. “I—I promise I’ll catch you when he dr—achoo! Achoo!!”

Just then, Ell felt a hand on his shoulder. “No need, darling~”

“Mr. Licht?” He turned around and saw Jamie and Ghilley with him, too. “What are you all doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re a team, after all.” Licht couldn’t help himself — he just had to throw the cute little angel a wink.

Just above their heads, Quincy growled and glared daggers. “Ghilley, what the hell is going on? I told you to bring me the angel, not everyone in the dorm.”

“Well, everyone in the dorm includes the angel, doesn’t it? Huhuhuhu!”

“D’ahhh! I hate you!!”

“Hey.” Jamie stepped forward. “You realize yer outnumbered here, right? Wouldn’t want anything to happen to ya ‘cause yer too stubborn to know when yer beat.”

The next thing Quincy knew, Ghilley was on the roof, standing right behind him, ever so slightly pushing him forward. “Hey, hey, hey!” he snapped. “This isn’t fair!”

At a loss for what else to do, Sian started writhing about. “Oh shit I’m falling I’m falling I’m falling!!”

“Ya got two options now: get off this here roof yerself, or _we’ll_ take care of it.”

…

“Tch… alright, then. I surrender.” Quincy put his hands above his head… and down went Sian.

In perfect sync, Ell, Jamie, and Licht rushed up to the dorm building, forming a little ring around the spot right under Quincy. Not a second later, a furious Sian fell into their waiting arms. Once he was safely on the ground again, Licht made quick work of unbinding him. The shorter man huffed and puffed about his abduction the whole time, in a vain attempt to draw attention away from the tears in the corners of his eyes.

Ell knelt down beside Sian and wiped one of those tears away with his thumb. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said to him. “You’re safe now.”

“I… I know that, kid…” Sian turned his eyes away and spoke no more, but the faint rosiness in his cheeks said it all. Ell smiled as Sian pushed himself off the ground and marched off.

Quincy finally got down from the roof and stood before the Morning Team, arms folded over his chest. “Alright, you guys got what you wanted — now scram!”

Wordlessly, the reapers walked away… well, three of them did, and one got yanked back by the collar of his jacket.

“I’m not done with you yet, stupid angel.”

“Hey, that hurt!”

“Good!”

Ell adjusted his clothes and sighed the world’s faintest sigh. “Mr. Quincy? Did I do something to upset you? Why are you doing all of this?”

“Oh, so you’ve forgotten what time of year it is already?” The demon laughed. “Been away from the Celestial World for too long?”

“Huh—?”

Before Ell knew it, he was on the ground, and Quincy was looming over him. “Merry Christmas Eve!” he practically sang. “Figured this was as good a time as any to remind everyone how powerless you are. That’s all~”

_So it was all a trick! He knew I wouldn’t be able to rescue Mr. Sian by myself; he just wanted to watch me fail in front of my classmates._

“But unfortunately we didn’t have much of an audience today. What a bummer.” Quincy pouted at the boy, but his eyes held no pity.

_Oh, if I only I weren’t so useless —_

“Achoo! Achoo!!”

“Hmph. Nothing to say for yourself? Do you admit defeat?”

“I…”

Ell took a deep breath and got himself back on his feet. Looking Quincy in the eyes made his stomach jump, but he forced himself to hold his gaze. “No, I don’t admit defeat. I can’t.”

“Huh?”

“It’s my duty as an angel to reject evil, isn’t it?” Ell reached out and took one of Quincy’s hands in his. “We should be happy during Christmastime. All of us!”

Quincy promptly swatted him away. “Oh, give me a break. You don’t mean that.”

“Yes I do!”

“No, you _don’t,”_ he snarled. “You only think that because that’s how your god built you to think! If you were normal, like the rest of us, then you wouldn’t be able to say that crap with a straight face.”

“What? No, no, that can’t be right!”

Now Ell felt like he simply _couldn’t_ look away. Quincy’s eyes were on fire, and if he wasn’t careful, they might just burn him.

“Mr. Quincy… why _can’t_ you say that with a straight face? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong??” All of a sudden, the fires went out. “Nothing is wrong! Why the hell would you think that!?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any harm by it.”

“Whatever. I mean, you wouldn’t have asked that if you didn’t think I was… aaagh, forget it! Get lost!”

Ell did not hesitate to do just that.

*

Later in the evening, Verine returned to the Dawn Team dorm with a basket full of herbs that he harvested from his garden. He couldn’t help but smile at the smell and feel of them as he carried them into the bedroom. They all looked so healthy. This was… honestly not a bad day for him. Which was nice, but also suspicious.

Verine could feel the bad vibes in the air as soon as he entered the room. And there was his roommate, lying face-down on his bed, still as a statue but clearly awake.

“Quincy? What are you doing here?”

“Is this not my room?”

“It is… it’s just, I’m not used to seeing you here around this ti—”

“Shut up, wimp.”

“...Alright…”

Verine gently set his basket down and picked out the herbs that he’d use to brew his evening cup of tea. He figured that if he went down to the kitchen for a while and let Quincy cool off, then he could come back and enjoy the rest of his evening in peace.

…

…

But apparently that was too much to ask for. Somehow, in his absence, the demon’s brooding got worse. Well, at least Verine knew there was no avoiding it now. So he gave up and started blasting Trans-Siberian Orchestra through the speakers by his bed.

As soon as the lead overdrive guitars kicked in, Quincy turned himself around to scowl at Verine. “What are you trying to do, make my ears bleed!? Turn it off, right now!!”

No response. Verine just lied there on his back with his eyes shut.

_“I said—!”_

Quincy lost his train of thought as the entire ensemble came together for the first time, ramping the song up to a climax. Verine cautiously opened one eye and saw that his roommate had indeed shut up for once. His gaze was somehow intense yet distant at the same time. What the hell was he thinking so hard about?

“...I feel like I know this song.”

Verine smiled. “Carol of the Bells.”

“Jeez… why did they have to make it so loud, though?”

“Because it sounds so much better that way.”

Quincy continued to listen to the music. Ever so slightly, without him even realizing it, his gaze softened. And somehow, that scared Verine even more than the looks of disapproval… but it was also nice to see, for a change.

Eventually, Quincy huffed and turned back around. “This is ridiculous.”

“I’m glad you like it, Quincy.”

“I… tch, just leave me alone.”

But Verine decided not to go anywhere this time.

*

Youssef heard the familiar sound of bells ringing as he entered his bedroom. Just as expected, he found Mori sitting on the edge of his bed, turning that bracelet around on his fingers. He couldn’t recall ever seeing the man without it. He wondered why, but he couldn’t ever bring himself to ask.

“Good evening.” Youssef shut the door behind him and handed Mori a large envelope. “Here’s everything that you asked for.”

Mori took the envelope and opened it up. Inside, he found several handwritten letters, addressed to no one in particular, that spoke of love and loss and a determination to be reunited. They were a bit dramatic for his own tastes, but he expected as much from the former novelist. He could work with this.

“You finished so soon?”

“What can I say? I felt inspired today.”

“Mm.”

Youssef sat down on his own bed and took off his glasses to clean the lenses. “Can I ask why you requested so many, Mori?”

“I like to have options. That’s all.”

“I see… whatever will you do with those?”

Youssef didn’t wait for an answer, though; he simply settled into his bed and picked up a book. Mori was relieved to have quiet again… or maybe he wasn’t. He thought that having the words right in front of him would make things easier, and yet he still felt so at a loss. Why? What exactly was he struggling to say? Was this not enough? Would anything ever be enough?

Mori put the letters down and held his head. He had to clench his teeth hard to keep from crying. _There’s no need for that,_ he told himself. He had to have faith in his abilities, and he had to have faith in the bond he shared with his master. Even if all else fails, he will always have his wish. He _will_ make it happen.

Until then, this is the only thing that Mori could think to do for her around this time of year. Not that they ever celebrated things like this at her temple, but there was something about the energy in the air tonight… 

“It… feels like you’re right here next to me.” Mori looked out the window and smiled up at the moon. “Merry Christmas, Mika.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone! You can find me on Instagram @have_a_good_noctu for other AFTERL!FE/general otome culture content :)


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